Santa Photo Shoot, Pt. 01

"Hey, sorry, but I have to take a potty break." She heard herself announce in a strange, foreign sounding utterance. "I'll be right back." And with that, she walked as smoothly as she could out of the room and down the hall.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Sarah hissed. From the moment she had walked through the doorway something had been off. Now, with only 5 more shots to take, and only 4 requiring her to be there, Michelle takes off out of the room like a girl half her age at a high school dance.

"Oh, my God! That's it! You were screwing her before I got here! And now, me sitting on your lap.... What the fuck were you thinking, Bryan?!" Sarah jumped up off of his lap and stared down at him. He cringed like a school boy before an irate teacher.

"I didn't do ..."

"Like hell! Are you really that stupid? Do you think that I am that stupid?!? For fucks sake, Bryan!" Sarah quickly turned and looked out the way that Michelle had gone and then continued in a tone that still threatened to scald the flesh, but was lower in volume. "She thinks the world of you and..whatever you did.... Oh fuck, and then I am sitting there, playing the whore for you and she is having to watch. Damn you! Why didn't you say something?"

"We didn't do anything! Honest to God. We kissed for just a moment and then..."

"And then what? What did you do to her?!"

"Nothing!!! If anything is ever going to happen between us, I don't want it to be a wham bam thank you ma'am deal! So nothing happened." Bryan was holding up both of his hands in total surrender as Sarah continued to stare daggers at him.

"You better not have hurt her. I haven't known her as long as you have, but she has told me about her shyness and how she has always been too self-conscious to really be herself. She trusts you! And if you ever...." Before Bryan had a time to say anything else in his defense she spun on her heels and stormed after Michelle.

"Hey, you okay?" Sarah quietly asked from the hallway as she knocked quietly on the closed wooden door.

"Yeah, I ... I just had to pee and... something got in my eye. I'm fine."

Sarah could hear Michelle flush the toilet and a few moments later, the water running. When the door opened, Michelle was suddenly face to face with an agitated, barely dressed Michelle who stepped right up into her personal space, causing Michelle to take a step back into the room. Sarah followed and closed the door.

"Look, if that bastard out there in the red suit hurt you in any way, I will kill him!" Sarah declared without preamble.

Michelle's face reflected the rapid succession of shock, confusion and fear before she burst out in laughter! It was now Sarah's took a half step back, confused herself by her friend's unexpected reaction. Michelle reached out and first took hold of her friends and then she wrapped her arms around her, even as she laughed. "What... are you okay?" Sarah asked again, genuinely questioning the sanity of her friend.

"Yes, I'm fine and he didn't ... I'm fine. I'm just being emotional. This is a big investment by all of us and.... I guess my nerves are shot." Michelle said as she stepped back but kept her hands on the bare arms of Sarah. The tears in her eyes were in stark contrast to the smile on her lips and yet both were as authentic as could be. "Thank you for caring. I ... I don't know, I just needed a moment."

Sarah's eyes moved over her friend's face looking for any clue as to what was really happening but after a moment, she relaxed and pulled them back together. "If you say you are okay, then okay. But if he has hurt you, just tell me and I will make him pay!" They both laughed.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure you would try. Both of us put together aren't as big as he is!" Michelle laughed.

"And it isn't just his feet that are big!" Sarah added in a confidential tone.

"I know! God, I wanted to be the one touching him in that last shot!!" They both laughed and hugged

A voice from the other end of the house called out, "Hey, are we finishing this up or not?"

"Hold your pants on, we're coming!" Sarah yelled back with a laugh.

"If he takes his pants off, maybe we would both come faster!" Michelle giggled and then they both burst out in laughter as they filed back to the other end of the studio.